"We let you out early to rest, and you all played street ball?!" Riko yelled.
Momoi sighed, "Men truly are predictable."
Natasha's brow rose, "I knew you would play, but I didn't think all of you would play that much."
"Well... We couldn't help it." Michelle grinned as they'd all entered their floor sweating and smiling. It was obvious that they'd all gotten a chance to play, and they had all seen the effects of their training. Riko and Momoi might as well have been magicians for being able to harmonize the players so they could all play together.
The only one who hadn't played was Stephanie, but she had taken a strong interest in Shuutoku's ace. His shooting ability fascinated the blonde, and as such she had been dutifully listening to the very short and blunt explanations of Midorima Shintarou. Takao, as friendly as he was, was ready to strangle his best friend. How could this frog haired boy not be friendly to such a pretty girl!
"Rest is just as important as the training itself." Momoi calmly said, she'd felt as if she'd said this multiple times before. In fact, she was certain of it. Riko was too, but she was less calm than Momoi.
"You're all grounded tomorrow!" Riko exclaimed, "Meet in the main suite tomorrow at 0600 hours for your mental training!"
"...that's not really rest then, is it?" Michelle had to turn her head to ask those around her in case she had heard wrong.
"It keeps us all from exerting ourselves physically." Kuroko said.
"Ah..." Michelle nodded as each person began heading to their designated rooms. "Wait, 0600?! In the morning?!"
"It's too early!" Michelle groaned from under the sheets in her bed.
The entirety of Team Japan was currently occupying the main suite, and they had seen how the girls had set up the rooms so that the beds were in the center.
Kagami chuckled, "There's three other rooms in this suite."
"My bed is in this room!" Michelle complained, "Why don't you go into the other rooms?"
"This is where we can fit the most people. So this is where we'll be!" Momoi was a lot more chipper than her American friend at the moment, and Aomine decided not to say anything about how it might have to do with a certain shadow in the room.
"Where's Kuroko-kun?" Michelle asked, "Tell him to get Kagami's ugly face outta my sight!"
Aomine was the first to snort in laughter.
"H-hey! That's uncalled for!" Kagami glared, and angrily pulled the covers away to properly glare at Michelle.
Before she could complain about the sudden cold, the cheers from the television stopped her. Riko had turned a game on, and while the teams were expecting their opponents to come on screen they saw something else entirely- Michelle, Natasha, and Stephanie.
"The movements of the American girl's team are similar to that of the men's. At least in terms of offense." Riko quickly explained, "I'm expecting America to place in the semi-finals if we don't have a match with them sooner. So I urge everyone here to watch the girl's style of offense while we can't see the men's team."
"Shit..." Michelle mumbled, sitting up in her bed as Natasha's brow rose.
"How ruthless...but smart, nonetheless." Natasha commented, "Michelle, Stephanie: we're taking this as our cue to move into the next room. I'd like to start our own practice in one hour."
"Sure~" Michelle slid off the bed, turning around to Riko and Momoi as Steph giggled and disappeared to the room, "By the way, your data is a little off. The men's team doesn't like to use as much offensive plays as we do. We strategize and they... Well... Taiga knows." Michelle shrugged. She waved them off and turned round, closing the door behind her.
"Your data gathering skills are... Notable." Natasha pointedly said, not glancing at Momoi purposefully, "But there are a few things that you've overlooked. I would recommend focusing on your team's core skills."
"Notable?" Momoi pouted when Natasha had headed towards the lobby. It sounded as if the blonde captain wasn't as impressed with Momoi's work!
"Team America wouldn't let me on their team." Kagami revealed, "There are high expectations, and when I tried out I barely made it to the second string."
"Second string?!" Takao exclaimed. How could anyone not let Kagami onto their team, they all thought.
Kagami scratched the back of his head, looking away with a little bit of shame in his eyes that he didn't want anyone to see, "I got pretty pissed, quit the team, and went back to the street courts. Then I moved to Japan about half a year later."
"So there are high expectations." Riko repeated from Kagami's earlier statement. She was already thinking of ways to improve upon the training regimen. If Kagami, in all his physical glory, couldn't get on Team America, then the other players that weren't part of the Generation of Miracles had lots of work to do. She would have to develop them from the basics.
"From their core skills..." Riko finished her own thoughts, "Natasha-chan was giving us good advice."
Michelle and Stephanie had walked out of the other room with their practice clothes on, and Michelle adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she walked away from the group, calling out to them without looking.
"We can't stand the guys team as much as any other opponent. Natasha hates that the coach isn't fair to us, and the guys hate that we can beat them sometimes in practice."
Stephanie turned around with a big grin on her face to add, "Everyone's mastered the basics and their technique. Almost as much as Michi-Michi has! Neechan just thinks your data is focusing on the unimportant details is all. Ganbatte'ne~!"
She closed the door before anyone could reply.
"Unimportant?!"
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the KnB manga/anime.